Export a medium quality mp4 file at 1280 x 720
ffmpeg -i <input> -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 22 -s 1280x720 -c:a libfdk_aac -b:a 196k -ar 44100 -pix_fmt yuv420p <output>.mp4
Quickly convert audio to .wav file
ffmpeg -i <input> <output>.wav
Convert to Apple ProRes 4444 at 1920x1080
ffmpeg -i <input> -c:v prores_ks -profile:v 4 -qscale:v 8 -vendor ap10 -pix_fmt yuv422p10le -s 1920x1080 <output>.mov
Deinterlace DVD footage and convert to Apple ProRes 4444
ffmpeg -i <input> -c:v prores_ks -profile:v 4 -qscale:v 8 -vendor ap10 -pix_fmt yuv422p10le -vf scale=640x480,setsar=1:1,yadif <output>.mov
Overlay a graphic file/watermark, ensure timecode data is passed through, and convert to Avid DNxHD 36
ffmpeg -i <input> -i <overlay-graphic>.png -filter_complex "overlay=x=(main_w-overlay_w)/2:y=(main_h-overlay_h)/2" -map 0:v -map 0:a -map 0:d -c:v dnxhd -b:v 36M -pix_fmt yuv422p -c:a pcm_s16le -ar 48000 <output>.mov
Rewrap video file without re-encoding, example used is .m4v to .mp4
ffmpeg -i <input>.m4v -c:v copy -c:a copy <output>.mp4
An alternate syntax to the above code which ensures all video and audio streams are copied
ffmpeg -i <input>.m4v -c copy -map 0 <output>.mp4
Copy video without re-encoding, but remove audio
ffmpeg -i <input> -c:v copy -an <output>
Merge an mp4 file that doesn't have audio with an mp4 file that has audio but no video
ffmpeg -i <input-with-video-and-no-audio>.mp4 -i <input-with-audio-and-no-video>.mp4 -c:v copy -c:a copy <output>
First, run the following to check for device inputs
ffmpeg -f avfoundation -list_devices true -i ""
In my case, this resulted in an output of:
AVFoundation video devices: [0] Capture screen 0
For best quality, capture the screen output to a lossless mkv file
ffmpeg -f avfoundation -i "0:0" -framerate 30 -c:v libx264 -crf 0 -preset ultrafast <output>.mkv
If you are capturing 23.976fps or 24fps content from your screen and want to remove the duplicate frames generated by capturing at 30 or 60fps, this command will remove those duplicate frames and output to an image sequence
ffmpeg -i <input> -vsync 0 -vf mpdecimate <output>%05d.png
You can also output to image sequence and keep original frame numbers if needed
ffmpeg -i <input> -vsync 0 -frame_pts true -vf mpdecimate <output>%05d.png
This command combines a few filters to trim a 1920x1200 video to 1920x1080, ensures a 23.976fps output, and encodes to ProRes 4444
ffmpeg -i <input> -vf mpdecimate,setpts=N/23.976/TB,crop=in_w:in_h-120 -c:v prores_ks -profile:v 4 -qscale:v 8 -vendor ap10 -pix_fmt yuv422p10le -s 1920x1080 -r 24000/1001 <output>.mov
Seek to the point indicated by the first time stamp and set that as the first frame, trimming everything that comes before it. The second time stamp indicates the duration of the clip, starting from the first time stamp.
ffmpeg -ss HH:MM:SS.MILLISECONDS -i <input>.mp4 -t HH:MM:SS.MILLISECONDS <output>.mp4
I've found that trimming with ffmpeg can sometimes offset audio streams by about half a frame, seemingly due to the fact that audio samples are timed on a sub-frame level. A fix for this is to use rational frames, for example here is how to trim a 29.97 NTSC video from frame 1,000 to 2,000:
ffmpeg -i <input>.mp4 -ss (1000/(30000/1001)) -to (2000/(30000/1001)) <output>.mp4
Without re-encoding, seek to a specific starting timecode in a video file and trim up to a specific ending timecode.
This will reset the beginning timecode of the output file to 0 with -avoid_negative_ts 2 The timecode format here can be HH:MM:SS.MILLISECONDS or in seconds.
ffmpeg -ss <starting timecode> -i <input>.mp4 -to <ending timecode> -c copy -copyts -avoid_negative_ts 2 <output>.mp4
More useful info and examples on seeking and trimming can be found here - https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Seeking
First cd into the directory containing the video files you want to convert, then run this script:
#!/bin/bash
# add extensions and rename output path as needed
fileExt="*.mp4 *.mov *.avi *.m4v *.mxf"
outputPath="./converted"
shopt -s nullglob
shopt -s nocaseglob
mkdir -p "$outputPath"
for i in $fileExt; do ffmpeg -i "$i" "$outputPath"/"${i%.*}".mp4 ; done